Rutgers walk-on Joe Behnke, West Windsor native, fulfills wish

Rutgers walk-on Joe Behnke, who graduated from West-Windsor Plainsboro North in 2009, kicks a 20-yard field goal Saturday, the first of his career. "It's very surreal," he said. (AP photo)

Even after the lone highlight of his career, Joe Behnke said he would still go back and critique his 20-yard field goal, the unlikely indelible moment of Rutgers’ 31-6 win Saturday against South Florida.

Behnke, a walk-on fifth-year senior from West Windsor-Plainsboro North, said he would notice a slow delivery. He would point out his kick was low.

But he would never ask for a second chance.

“It’s very surreal. This caps off my career,” Behnke said. “I’m not a standout player on this team, so to practice day in and day out and not have anything to show physically as a stat — I wouldn’t say I was embarrassed, but now that I have contributed three points, it’s just incredible.”

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Starting with his sophomore year, Behnke tried out for the team three times and failed. He only received a call back from Rutgers midway through last season after starter Kyle Federico ultimately suffered a season-ending hip injury.

For most of the time since, he has been the third-string kicker in a two-man competition.

But with less than a minute remaining on a chilly evening in Piscataway, Behnke trudged onto the field at High Point Solutions Stadium.

Chris Casamento, Behnke’s high school coach at WW-P North in 2009, asked Behnke a year ago about his plans and if they included football. Behnke didn’t know.

“He was like, ‘I never really thought of that,’” Casamento said. “I was like, ‘Why don’t you ask coach if you can hang on? The only way you’re going to get in is if you’re on the team.’”

So Behnke returned, and Federico fully healed from offseason surgery. Behnke spent most of the season in obscurity, content to practice with the team and play out his final year of eligibility.

A few months later, Behnke is wearing an orange T-shirt and faded jeans. Rutgers’ locker room is starting to clear out, but Behnke remains, trying to come to grips with the moment he waited nearly five years for.

He hunches over to pick up a few belongings. In a few minutes, only Rutgers’ regulars will linger, recapping the victory that clinched bowl eligibility for the eighth time in nine seasons.

For the first time, Benhke had a stake in it.

“Had we been up eight touchdowns, that would’ve been my benchmark,” said Behnke, who only kicked one field goal as a senior in high school. “If we put up a lot of points, there’d be a slight chance they’d put me out there for an extra point. I didn’t expect it, but I figured there’s a slight chance.”

A member of Rutgers’ staff told Behnke to stand next to head coach Kyle Flood. Behnke moved off to the side and took 10 warm-up kicks.

Odds are Behnke, once a self-described “big-time fencer”, had never stood beside Flood, but moments later the second-year head coach gave the signal.

Behnke slowly jogs onto the turf near the south end zone. Fans boo, unaware of the significance of the moment. A snap gives way to a low line drive that curls slightly to the left.

On the sideline, Flood takes off his headset and raises his arms. A player whose name he didn’t know nearly a year earlier had stolen the show in a game that had more than bowl implications on the line for Flood.

“This is a kid that never really let the dream die,” Casamento said. “This is a kid that dreamed of this. He told me he dreamed of getting into a game at Rutgers. He said, ‘Coach, I dreamed about this.’”

About the Author

Tyler Barto is a 2013 Rutgers graduate and a Westampton, N.J., native. Reach the author at tbarto@trentonian.com
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